Thai Solar Energy firm on IPO, listing amid shareholders' dispute
Thai Solar Energy Plc insists it will go ahead with its initial public offering and listing on the Market for Alternative Investment by the end of this month as planned, despite the legal dispute between its major shareholder Catherine Malinont and former
"We’re confident the company is able to do the IPO as planned earlier. The company has added information in the filing so that investors can make a decision on that," Catherine, also chairman and chief executive officer of the renewable energy company, told the Krungthep Turakij newspaper.
Recently, TSE discussed all dispute issues with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which viewed that the dispute had no significant impact on the company’s operations.
"Retail investors have been panicking over the dispute but institutional investors have no concern over that," she said.
The former shareholders were filing lawsuits frequently and most of them were dismissed, she said.
Paiboon Maturanont, a former TSE shareholder, has sued the Malinont family on concern the IPO shares may face problems in the future, but Catherine said the 450 million shares on offer are newly issued and there should be no problem.
As for the management conflicts, Catherine said that during the floods, the company partnered with Wave Entertainment for more capital, which helped boost the confidence of financial institutions to lend more, and that stirred up conflicts between the existing and new management teams.
Thawatchai Pittayasophon, director of the SEC, said the watchdog was considering the petition to suspend the IPO. Consideration is being made on the dispute and its impact on the IPO.
According to the SEC, TSE’s additional information in the filing includes progress on cases filed against the company over sales of shares and an extraordinary meeting of TSE shareholders.
